Ballad of Birmingham by Dudley Randall
Ballad of Birmingham is about a young girl who wanted march for equal rights and make a change in her country. Her mother thought it wasn’t safe so suggested she went to church, where she is usually safe. But all was different this time. Sadly the Birmingham Church, a church for black people, was bombed. 4 girls were killed and many more were badly injured.
I think the author wrote this poem because he wanted the readers to have full realisation of what went on that day. Although it was a simple poem with exchanged dialogue between the mum and daughter, it has a great effect on us as what must’ve gone through their minds that day. By the author using dialogue and third person, we have a far better understanding of the characters. At the end when it changes back to dialogue, she is no longer having a conversation . This shows the significance of the story and what it did to her.
“her eyes grew wet and wild”- this alliteration is significant because it draws attention to the mums grief. It tells us about her fear the grew as she began to know about what had happened to her sweet girl. Her eyes were wet and wild with tear over the fear that no parent wants for their child . The alliteration pulls us towards the sentence and how she must be feeling.
“For the dogs are fierce and wild”, this metaphor is important to the poem because it tells us why the mother didn’t want her girl to go there, everything was fierce and wild down there. She would’ve been in danger. The dogs represent the far right groups, who have no respect for the colored people.
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